seems to me it's a good bill. let the people decide whether to raise their own taxes.

WI is a tax-hell state, with both high income taxes & high property taxes, both of which are disincentives to create and keep jobs in WI. beats me why the liberals don't understand that.

and speaking of liberals, I've read a lot of posts lately accusing the Koch brothers of being Walker's puppet masters. But not one word has been said about who is paying for all the protestors to stay away from work or the cry baby dems who hide out rather than do their job. how much $$ has the democratic national party spent, or George Soros and his moveon.org group? it's OK for a liberal billionaire to participate in the political process but not a conservative? how biased is that?

posterguy - really, do you think we are all ignorant and can't tell the difference between percentage increases and absolute dollar increases? So the sales tax has stayed at the same percentage - but the revenue it generates has increased at the same rate that the overall cost of purchasing goods has risen because we have not had negative inflation. So whatever cost $100 before and generated $5 30 years ago might cost $110 and generate $5.50 now. If we subscribed to your theory that we need to keep raising sales taxes, in a hundred years we'd be paying $200 in sales tax for $100 item just to fund all your nanny state expenses.

Life is tough for you libs. First, they pass a law demanding proof that you are entitled to vote and then demand that a significant majority are in agreement before raising taxes. Your only hope is to get everyone on the dole so they'll vote for more taxes!

WI has not raised its sales tax statewide since the early '80's, and state income taxes are lower now than during the Reagan Admin. What else can WI do to generate revenue at the state level? If Republicans continue to resist tax increases, the only answer is going to be property taxes at the local levels so some state politicians can say "we never raised taxes". True, but you passed the buck to the local level to be the bad guys. We can't keep lowering taxes or giving tax breaks to big business and expect to see the quality level of services at minimum stay the same. At some point, taxes will have to increase to keep quality public services and schools. WI is #2 in the U.S. in college entrance exam scores. To keep that high standard, we have to fund our educators and our school districts. I will not live in a place with a bottom level education system. It is unacceptable to offer anything less than the best education to our children! If we are unwilling to support the future of our country, we should be ashamed of ourselves!

Now that the Koch Brothers have bought the Govenors Office, they can pay for the Govenors salary, benefits,special perks, and any other expenses he may have.That will save the state a ton of money. probably enough to balence the state budget.

richardcranium: That was a great story. It shows perfectly well how when the federal government cuts back aid to the state governments, the state governments in turn have to cut aid to the local governments. That leaves the local governments with a couple of options. Either raise our taxes or cut spending.
Common sense says that they should cut spending to bare bones before they raise our taxes but our local government has no common sense so that's not going to happen.
Thanks for making Walker's case for him. I appreciate it!

No mention in the story how the Democrats also wanted the super majority for fee increases but the Rep. voted that down. Was that not one of the issues they called Doyle out on?

Payback to the rich donors to Scott's campaign.

You could always pay more in taxes if you want...you know, to help the church.

Ok... I can no longer take this absurdity...

Here is an analogy as to what is really going on. Bear with the long story. First.. quote Walker: "I went to work today, met with my cabinet and signed legislation that will help government operate within its means,"

So Walker says this will allow the state to operate within it means. So here is the comparison:

Jim and his family belong to a church. They give 10 percent of their earnings to the church so the church can operate and they have committed to do so over the course of the year. (because without that donation from Jim, the church cannot do their job). The church sets their budget and plans their work for the year based upon Jims' family donation.

So one day Jim and his family realize that they have way overspent on vacation, eating out, etc and they need to get money to cover what they have done. So instead of cutting back the next few months they decide that they are going to cut off their donation to the church because the church can tighten their belt instead of dealing with their own expenditures. SO what happens to the church? They have to beg and plead with the congregation for more money or create some other way to cover their costs or worst yet, cut off services.. and IMMEDIATELY!

Folks, when Walker rolls out his budget plan next week you had better hang on because Walker isn't about helping you, he is about helping the state budget and his buddies the Koch brothers or whoever else he owes favors to for fronting money to get him in office. Welcome to Illinois north where the Governor is not far removed from Springfield/Chicago Illinois style politics......